That was quite some opening. At least I was prepared for the explosion, thanks to promos and trailers.
Elliot definitely seems to be having some sort of PTSD. He should not be living alone!
When his gaze rested on the bin/trash can with the doll dressed in a police uniform used to prank/haze Eli felt very symbolic and significant as a metaphor for Eli’s very brief police career ( I really can’t see him continuing in that career whatever the outcome to the investigation following the shooting is, and my gut is telling me it’s going to be bad).
He’s such a good dad, bringing Eli and Becky breakfast and helping out however he can, unlike Eli, who just seems totally out of it and doesn’t seem to be helping with household chores, the baby or anything that is important to Becky. He was also really rude to his dad, barely said hello to him and was dismissive ( « We’re not using that ») regarding all the baby things Bernie used with Elliot and his siblings. There were so many other ways he could have said he didn’t like/want it ( « Say thanks to Grandma, but we already have one/I don’t think it will match the colour scheme or theme for the nursery »).
Nice little callback to Elliot watching the news of the explosion that nearly killed him a couple of eps ago and Eli standing the exact same way.
Towards the end of the episode, when Elliot was holding baby Owen, I got flashbacks to S9 of SVU, Paternity, when Elliot holds baby Eli ( who also has a blue hat and a white/cream blanket round him), which was a sweet parallel.
Also, dude, stop pushing your dad ( that you allegedly love) away. He’s trying to help you!
Not a fan of the new baby’s name, as it reminds me of a character I really cannot stand on Grey’s Anatomy, especially as he shares a surname with Eli’s FTO, who is equally awful!
He should be recommending therapists/counselors to Eli, not dragging him out to get completely drunk ( also, how is Eli 21? I had him at 20 tops!), Also blowing off dinner with Becky’s parents is just immature and rude. I did love seeing Protectelliot/Papa Bear Elliot chew Hunt out for what he did, though I’m not sure Eli deserved to be defended as he was really bratty to his dad.
I get that Eli is probably depressed/has PTSD/is traumatised by what he went through, but he has so much love and support to help him get through it. Becky saying she wants her soft and sensitive/kind and gentle boyfriend back was very telling, as those are not words I would use to describe a member of the police force!
Poor Becky, at least she has Elliot to confide in, but he had so much going on already:worrying about his mum, Randall’s actions ( we have to get that convo next episode, it’s going to be explosive! I think Vargas will get some of the heat too.), his deep concern about Eli and his own health issues are not conducive to s happy, healthy Elliot.
I did love that he referred to Randall as « his Randall » which felt very protective and big brotherly of him, though he is the younger brother.
And I think Bernie actually saw Joe Jr, as usually when she has her memory lapses, she seems to ignore the other people’s response but this seemed like a real conversation,
Elliot had spent so long being the reliable, responsible son and father that I understand why Bernie suggests Joe Jr seek him out, but Elliot really needs a break from fixing everyone’s problems!
I liked seeing more of Vargas, but really missed Bell and Reyes ( did he go to Italy with her?).
The actual crimes are not what I watch the show for, can you tell?
Seeing as how we don’t yet have a name for Eli and Becky’s baby on Law and Order Organized Crime, and the next two episodes seem to be stand alones in which Nicky Torchia ( who plays Eli) does not feature, it sounds like we might have to wait a little longer to find out what it is. I would be interested in hearing everyone’s ideas/suggestions.
I think they might use Elliot as a middle name, then maybe something Irish ( like Maureen and Carl’s boys, Killian/Kieran and Seámus), from the Bible or just a bit old fashioned/traditional.
So maybe Aiden, Jonah/James/Nathaniel ( I think Noah Stabler sounds so good, but that is Olivia’s kid’s name) or Jack, Oliver, Sebastian… Not sure about S names as they could be a bit much with Stabler as a surname.
We know nothing about Becky’s family, but it seems like they aren’t supportive of her current choices but maybe that’s not the case and the name will be from her side of the family.
Of course, they could honour nobody and go for a modern name with a made up/illogical spelling, but I hope they don’t do that!
Or maybe the upcoming episode will give us a name reveal, which would be great!
Hi,
Does anyone have any links to fics about Law and Order Organized Crime, which follow the feelings/thoughts/relationship between Eli and Elliot after the end of the latest episode?
Or just fics that explore their relationship throughout the series. I’d love to know what Eli’s motivations were for joining the police force, as, since S1, he has been annoyed/upset by his dad always having to leave for work or answer the phone during family events, not seeing him for weeks on end when he is undercover and really not seeming to understand just how much danger his dad is in when he is on the job.
I actually think S1 Eli ( aged about 15-ish) was more patient/understanding about his dad’s job than he was at the end of S4! Also seeing Elliot’s thought process/feelings about the whole thing would be interesting, as he loves his son and wants to support him but does,’t want him to get injured ( or worse) and I think he was pretty hurt that Eli didn’t confide in him about dropping out of college, expecting a baby and signing up to the police force.
There must be some fics out there, I just haven’t found them yet!
I am currently rewatching Season 9.
The Season premiere is fantastic, it is up there as one of my favourite episodes regarding the crime committed/the perpetrator.
Cynthia Nixon is just incredible! All her different personalities are so distinct and she switches between them so seamlessly.
The car crash in Paternity still makes me gasp every single time and that first hug between Elliot and Olivia just encapsulates their relationship perfectly, how they can communicate everything they need to tell each other without saying a word. I still think Oliver should have been used somewhere in Eli’s name, to honour Olivia’s role in saving both Kathy and Eli’s lives!
The actual crime investigation in Paternity is also so sad. The non-biological father ( but Tommy’s real dad in terms of care and love provided) breaks my heart. Tommy is such a cute little boy, and it’s adorable to see Elliot with him.
After Eli is born, Elliot seems to spend even more time at work, if that is possible! Several times it is mentioned that they’ve been working on a case for a couple of days, that it’s the early hours of the morning and they are questioning suspects, looking through footage…
I also watch OC, so I think this needs to come up in conversation between Elliot and Eli, as Eli wants to become a cop and Elliot is not a fan.
Eli and his girlfriend are also expecting a baby, and they are no more than 20 ( second year of college, I think).
I had forgotten how little Elliot sees of his family. I knew he worked hard and occasionally spent a few days on a case without any/many breaks, but this is just constant, and there are probably lots of overlapping cases too.
I am frankly surprised Kathy stayed married to Elliot, as in Season 10 she is ready to leave him again, when he yet again goes undercover and doesn’t warn her, leaving Olivia to come over and explain things to her.
The Robin Williams episode is brilliant, another favourite and at first I thought « Oh, that sounds just like Robin Williams, they’ve found an actor who is just as good at mimicking voices… Oh, hang on, it is Robin Williams! ». I love that they left the ending unresolved so he could have come back at some point.
I love Casey Novak, she is one of my favourite ADA’s. I find her mindset very similar to Elliot’s, and they have this big brother-little sister dynamic that I find very interesting.
For fic purposes, I was trying to find out where some of the Stabler kids go to school.
In Season 1, we can assume Maureen goes to school that doesn’t have a uniform, and that is probably not single sex as she goes to the Homecoming dance in Wanderlust with a boy and see her dad drop her off towards the end of Sophomore Jinx and nobody seems to be wearing anything remotely similar to Maureen’s black top and white jeans.
In Season 6, Elliot goes to talk to Kathleen outside her high school, which is named as Glen Oaks High School. The exterior looks completely different to where Elliot dropped Maureen off in Season 1, and I think there are only girls around, so it could be single sex. There doesn’t seem to be any sort of uniform though, as all Kathleen’s friends are wearing wildly different outfits.
In Season 3, Kathleen is shown to be struggling with several subjects so maybe Elliot and Kathy deemed a smaller school with fewer distractions might be better ( if there aren’t any boys that will minimise the boy drama) but Elliot mentions Kathleen’s former boyfriend, so I really don’t know, it could be the same school as Maureen’s.
In Season 11, Turmoil, we find out that Dickie goes to Cardinal Catholic Prep School, which has a pretty strict/smart uniform ( shirt, tie and blazer), and seems to be single sex as when the SVU squad come to interview Dickie’s classmates, we only see boys there.
We know that Dickie got into a fight in Season 8, which would be middle school age. So maybe Elliot and Kathy thought he’d be happier/do better in a smaller school with more support and he’d have some more male friends/guy time as he seems to take Kathy and Elliot’s split very hard and seemingly only lives with his mum, sisters and grandma during their separation and doesn’t see his dad as much as he would like to.
My head canon is that Lizzie goes to a performing arts school and they put on regular shows ( in Season 10 or 11, Elliot ends up going to one of them and mentions she was in Anne Frank before that).
And Eli, when they are in Rome, goes to an International School where he has classes in English with other native English speakers and history, geography, science, maths etc are all in Italian, though the American section do focus on US history, geography and literature too, of course.
When Eli returns to New York, he is several years ahead of his peers so is in all AP classes or joins the older students for their lessons and graduates early, at 16/17, to help with the wonky timeline as he is supposed to be at most 14 when Kathy dies ( and it’s probably closer to 13, really), if my maths is correct. Each Season is 6 months to a year long, with maybe a few “X months later” jumps, He left in Season 12, aged (nearly?) 3, came back in Season 22, so that’s 10 years give or take, plus let’s say 2 time jumps of 6 months each makes him 14. And by Season 3 he is already in college, which would make him 17-ish!
Not so interested in the actual cases this Season, and find a lot of the new characters indistinguishable/hard to keep track of. Velasco seems to look different every episode, then there is Duarte too…
Churlish has a stupid name, it means petty, moody, rebellious. They could have gone for Furnish or Cornish!
I quite like Muncy. I think she comes from money and was expected to be perfect growing up so is now applying that to the job, and it’s not working!
Fin’s mentoring skills are excellent, I think he really does a great job.
I like that Stabler and Rollins have a close friendship, but would love to see Stabler bond with Carisi, as Carisi is what Stabler could have been with a non-abusive childhood. Those two at a bar having a beer talking about their kids would be fab.
I only really watch for the Rollins-Carisi relationship, and they had some lovely moments this season. Loved how Carisi told Liv about the pregnancy, he was clearly bursting to tell someone.
I have been thinking about OC, and how Eli wasn’t in New York for the award ceremony. I think he’s at soccer camp in Italy of staying with a friend, so never got to see his mum in hospital or say goodbye to her properly. That’s got to have screwed him up emotionally, especially as we don’t know how or when he was told, as would Elliot have told him over the phone ( about the accident) or waited until Eli arrived in New York to tell him, as the window of time between the accident and her passing is fairly small, a day or two, I think? However Elliot tells him is going to make him sad and angry. I would have liked to have seen more of the 5 stages of grief from all the Stablers, maybe with Bernie’s Alzheimer’s making her confuse Kathleen or Maureen with Kathy and Dickie or Eli for Elliot.
Lots of fanfic ideas of the sad variety are now percolating in my brain!
The disclosure episode for Rollins and Carisi was amazing. Both their fears/viewpoints were valid, and they are both invested in the relationship and clearly love each other a lot. It was cool to have them have the conversations in the same place, and I love that Amanda puts her hand on his chest before kissing him, mirroring their first kiss. Yay! Squee! I love them together, Your Honour!
Her calling him Counsellor is already becoming a thing, it’s sooooo cute!
Jesse was adorable, asking him if he’s Billie’s daddy. Maybe she was asking a little bit for herself too, as we know that Declan has had no contact with her since before she was born, so Carisi is her main male father figure, as he is for Billie.
When they go undercover as a married couple, I wanted so much more of that, they were so cute!
Very weird to hear Mia calling Carisi Uncle Dom and not Uncle Sonny. Her “Finally!” when Amanda came for dinner at the Carisi household was lovely, and Amanda’s jubilation that Mrs Carisi likes her ( obviously she does, she makes her beloved son extremely happy and is awesome) was so sweet.
I’d have loved to have seen Dominick Carisi Sr, but I think what we hear from Carisi’s phone call with him is that he is a pretty great guy/dad as he tells his son he loves him as Carisi says “I love you too” at the end of their chat, is patient when Carisi has to field another call, goes to fix stuff that isn’t working at his daughter’s place, and he raised Carisi to be a great guy.
Is it just me or does the actor playing Velasco look wildly different, maybe even unrecognisable from episode to episode? Sometimes he’s clean shaven, the next he has a beard, then he has stubble. That might just be because episodes are filmed out of order. He’s not bad, but I am not very invested in him as a character.
It was nice to get a bonus episode, which was the crossover with OC where Eli steals his grandmother’s medication and runs away to Jersey. It was great to finally be able to watch it in English. It’s definitely an emotional one!
The trial for Richard Wheatley was so tense! I am sure I saw Eli there at first, but he was absent by the time his dad took the stand. Eli looked very uncomfortable, covering his ears and looking down, so maybe he went home after a bit, when he realised he couldn’t cope with it emotionally.
It was great to see Carisi in action, I thought he did a fantastic job .
I was prepared to hate the new judge/chief legal person but then realised she wasn’t all bad, and she’s really helped Carisi come into his own.
The episodes are pretty good, I am enjoying them a lot.
The one with Burton Lowe was incredible! I could tell from the Season 1 episode ( Wanderlust) that she’d been groomed ( and I thought her retelling of the relationship didn’t mesh with what we knew about her character so far). When Liv realises that he is a serial groomer and she was one of his victims, then left his hotel room, I cheered. I loved seeing all the flashbacks with Elliot, that was so nostalgic. It was a really powerful episode. It was also an interesting choice to have Nick Amaro come back, he was 100% correct in what he said to Olivia, it shows just how much he cares about her.
I like that the show is moving with the times, regarding technology and the jobs involved with that.
I thought Season 3 was extremely boring, as I watch for the Stabler family interactions and Elliot and Olivia moments.
The scene between Eli and Elliot at the end of the episode with the Asian father searching for his son was sweet. Elliot teasing him about his clothes being all over the floor as well as providing a good home-cooked meal felt very true to the characters and their father-son dynamic, as well as Eli not being forthcoming about his girlfriend without some prodding. How is Eli old enough to be in college? The only explanation I can come up with is that Eli was so far ahead in his studies, having studied in Italy ( European curriculum is allegedly a couple of years ahead of the equivalent grade in the US, so US uni courses are equivalent to Junior or Senior Year courses in the UK). There were several other instances where I was very confused by the timeline, like Elliot’s dad being dead by 1993 as Elliot says he went to his dad’s grave with a sandwich and two beers when he made detective, aged about 25, yet had also been able to serve in the Marines on several missions... Honestly, I’ve given up trying to understand it! Also still trying to figure out the age order and age gap between the older Stabler siblings, which is also very confusing. Joe Jr’s year of birth is 1980-something ( based on the safe code in his hotel suite that Elliot and Randall figure out), which would mean Elliot was in his late teens/early. 20’s ( so already married with at least one kid) by the time Joe Jr came along.
The Season 3 episode ending establishes a pattern as Eli doesn't tell his dad he’s split from Rachel, but tells Randall. It kind of mirrors the Season 4 finale, with Elliot teasing Eli about being up early at first, then asking the probing/deeper questions. I wish Eli had just told him, but seeing as how his dad reacted to him joining the police force, I can understand why he didn’t want to. I love that he and Bernie both figured it out, albeit in very different ways that felt very true to their characters.
The family dinner episode in Season 4 was very dramatic and the revelations were pretty shocking. I knew the truth about Joe Sr but to actually hear it and see all the characters deal with the aftermath was so impactful. Again, everyone reacting, talking over each other and wanting to leave both then and when Eli tells them he’s going to be a police officer. I really get why Elliot doesn’t want him to join up, with all the dangers he has faced and faces in the Season.
The casting continues to be excellent, as Joe Jr looks just like the actor who played Joe Sr as they have a similar build, face/nose shape and colouring. Randall looks like a stockier version of Elliot.
I think it’s sad that the Stabler kids have cousins they have never met/hung out with as Randall has been in Florida for about 40 years, and got married and had kids at some point.
I enjoyed the little moments with Carisi and Rollins. It seems like Rollins and Stabler have quite a close bond/an established friendship, so I would like to see Stabler have that bond with Carisi. They could have had a beer together after one of the cases and talked about their kids/families/whatever was going on. I think Carisi’s empathy and desire to look after people would be good for Stabler.
I was much more interested in the Season 4 episode arc, I thought they packed a lot into 13 episodes.
Throughout Season 1 and 2, I love that we see Bernie and Elliot going to feed the ducks independently of each other.
I think Elliot says he grew up in this area, when he goes to dig out the bullets he shot into a tree when his dad was teaching him how to use a gun, so it would be somewhere he went fairly regularly as a child with Bernie, which is confirmed by what Bernie says when she thinks the young child feeding the ducks near her is Elliot. I guess it was her way of protecting Elliot and herself from Joe’s alcoholic rages and violence.
Once again, the casting director/team did a great job finding a kid who realistically looked like young Elliot, both for that scene and for the home videos at the end of the Season 2 ep. The actors for young Joe and Bernie were perfect too.
While I think it is good that Elliot had some good memories of his father, we know that the smallest thing could send him into a violent rage as in S7, Elliot says he moved a tree on the diorama they had worked on together and Joe threw it on the floor and stomped on it until it was destroyed, then beat Elliot for crying about it ( and probably beat him again for getting an F). The scenes we see of them together in the home videos made me think of how Elliot interacted with his kids when they were little as well as when they were older, but Elliot is consistent in always doing that.
I like to think Elliot took his kids to feed the ducks, maybe even going to the same place he went.
Eli’s decision to join the police force I think must have been sparked by the brand new officer who helps him when he runs away and is going to jump off the bridge, as Eli grew up with Elliot no longer in SVU, just doing security and less dangerous police work. I’m sure he heard about what Elliot did from his siblings and maybe Elliot himself, and, like most little boys, I’m sure he thought it was super cool that his daddy was a detective. So maybe he was thinking about it then the interaction with the police officer really solidified that idea in his mind.
I also really like how Eli is super protective of his family, just like Elliot is. He’s also just as stubborn as his father and 3 out of 4 of his siblings. He also internalises his feelings until they come out as anger and has trouble asking for help, just like his dad.
Eli wanting to jump off the bridge made me think of Dickie wanting to join the Marines in Turmoil, S 11, as they both seem to think it will be easier if they go away and stop disappointing their dad.
After having watched Season 16 to 22 of SVU after stopping at the end of Season 12, and seeing Elliot back, Kathy dying and bits of OC, I just keep thinking about what if Kathy and Elliot weren’t together shortly after Eli’s birth. I always felt they ultimately would have ended up divorcing at some point after Eli came along, as they only got back together because of Kathy’s pregnancy, and Elliot was still working all hours in Season 10/11/12 and Kathy nearly left him again!
So my brain went to what if she died following complications from the accident, so in the Season 9 finale or early Season 10. She could have had to have an operation for some side effect/condition she developed after the accident, so she goes in for surgery in the Season 9 finale, we see her go into surgery, with one or several of the big kids/his mum/Liv waiting with him, the doctor comes out and calls for Mr Stabler and Dun Dun, cut to black. Season 10 finale, we see the doctor talking to Stabler and whoever is with him. There are tears and hugs. Then we have the funeral, Liv and the team are there. Elliot ends up becoming a stay at home dad ( something he seemed interested in doing in at least one episode) while Olivia navigates training a new partner and moving up the ranks, eventually becoming Captain.
There could still be all the drama with Kathleen and Dickie, plus some from Lizzie as she was criminally underutilised.
Maybe Elliot works as a private consultant so can still help out with cases, and Olivia is over at the house more and more. They eventually get together romantically and have at least one kid together ( either biologically, or they can adopt Calvin and/or Noah, kind of following the show).
So that leaves room for the new team members to come along as they do in canon, there can be some adoption/fostering drama…
El and Liv would definitely be friends with Carisi and Rollins. He has very similar values to Carisi, so I can see them being buddies. And it would mean Billie and Jesse would have another strong male presence in their lives, which wouldn’t be a bad thing.
Obviously it would impact some of the storylines, like William Lewis wouldn’t happen fully. I haven’t seen Seasons 13-15 so not sure how I could rewrite that, but I’d like to try!
I have so many other missing scenes of family life ( Stabler and his kids, Liv and the young Stablers, Carisi and the Rollins girls…) that would be easier and more fun/less traumatic!